


Chariots Rise

by ohrightwelldone



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Emotionally Constipated Idiots Fall in Love, Late Night Conversations, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 03:48:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29483217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohrightwelldone/pseuds/ohrightwelldone
Summary: Something’s different tonight. Kenny knew Uri draped in long, sleek hair and floor-kissing robes.
Relationships: Kenny Ackerman/Uri Reiss
Comments: 5
Kudos: 70





	Chariots Rise

**Author's Note:**

> Aside from Historia and Ymir, Kenny and Uri have some of the most devastatingly romantic moments/overtures in Attack on Titan. I can't do them justice, but I had to contribute something to this pairing.
> 
> Title taken from Lizzie West's song for the movie Secretary, "Chariots Rise". It's very Kenny/Uri and I couldn't pass it up.

Kenny never knocked before he barged into Uri’s quarters. He was the king’s bodyguard: discovered and brought in personally by the crown himself, and as far as Kenny was concerned, he called the shots. Whoever Uri was meeting with: politicians, clergy, kin – didn’t matter. If they didn’t like Kenny’s presence, well, that said more about them than it ever would about Kenny. So, as always, Kenny swung the door to Uri’s office wide open and straddled the threshold.

“No company, tonight?” Kenny asked the shadowed figure at the desk. It would only be Uri; he had a terrible habit of working until the sun disappeared behind the walls and the room was dipped in black, but losing himself in his work so deeply that he would forget to light a lamp. (“No wonder you’re aging so fucking quick”, Kenny would always admonish as he brought a light over.)

Uri must’ve drifted into his thoughts and not his work however, for he was reclined back in his chair. He stood up at Kenny’s greeting, and the first thought that sprung to Kenny’s mind was the clear absence of robes. 

“No. Not until now,” replied Uri, and he walked up to the fireplace as Kenny closed the door behind him, locking it for good measure. When he turned, Uri was illuminated. Kenny felt struck. Uri stood before him in a buttoned shirt and vest, and a pair of trousers that didn't hang around the man like a curtain. But all of that faded into simple noise when Kenny saw...

“What happened to your head?” It was out before Kenny could even think about what he was saying. Uri’s hand darted behind his ear, scratching at the shorter, tapered tresses.

“Titan bit it off.”

Kenny stiffened. He knew what Uri was getting at – his hair, a titan biting it off though he himself was a damn monster, ha ha ha. It was how he said it though: Uri’s sense of humour was as dry as stone and as serious as the rest of his personality, and that matter-of-fact tone put an edge on his words that cut Kenny deeper than it should. The thought of one of those _things_ crunching through Uri’s neck burned in his mind.

Uri was waiting for a response, and his eyes were starting to narrow. No, fuck that. Kenny didn’t feel like being analyzed.

“You finally decide to have a sense of humour and you can’t even get a laugh.” Kenny turned his back to him, his ears still ringing with a _crunch, crunch, crunch_. “You can’t hold a conversation, you can’t use your powers for shit, you probably can’t even _bring yourself to shit_ half the time, and now, you can’t get a laugh. Pathetic.”

Uri’s lit silhouette waited. “Are you finished?”

“You want to lighten the mood?” Kenny threw himself down on the sofa, staring past Uri, watching the window, “Don’t kid about dying.”

“I did not – ”

“Don’t say that shit again!” Were the corners of the room growing darker? Or was the fire burning brighter? “You hear me? Don’t say that shit again. Don’t.”

Fuck. _Fuck._ That hurt to say. He thought he had beaten the shaking out of his hands by now. A knife pointed at his stomach only kept his fingers quick, fluid. But here his hands shook, his knuckles burned. The air must have grown heavy; his head bowed lower until it fell into his quivering fingers.

Even now, his ears were waiting for the slightest sound; growing up in the Underground fucked with your senses like that. He could hear shoes – expensive, recently polished – gingerly cross the floor. Kenny didn’t look up; he didn’t need to. Uri always smelled of fresh, clean cotton. Sometimes it rubbed off onto Kenny. He didn’t know how to feel about it. The sofa dipped beside him, and there it was – that light cotton smell.

“Okay.”

Damn. One word and Kenny melted. “Okay?”

“As long as you do the same.”

And then Kenny snickered. “Always cutting a deal, are ya?”

Uri just smirked good-naturedly.

“Usually, you’re swaddled like some baby.” Kenny jabbed Uri’s foot with his own. “A shirt and trousers and hair that doesn’t drape your face like a dog. You could go into the streets and no one would know you.”

“I know. I was out earlier today.”

“What?” Kenny snapped. “Out where?”

“Here and there,” Uri answered, his smile fighting to not curve into a smirk.

“ _Dickhead,_ if you’re gonna go waltzing around on your own, why the hell am I still being kept around?”

The playfulness in Uri’s expression dimmed. “I only want you here by your own choice, Kenny.”

“Then stop making my job redundant, why don’t ya?”

“You’ll never be redundant,” Uri said, almost like a confession, almost like reciting a fact. “You’re important.”

_To me,_ Kenny swore he heard, but didn’t ask to hear again. He broke away from Uri’s gaze, choosing instead of to look at his mud-speckled boots. Uri took his silence as an encouragement to continue.

“I wanted to know the world a bit more. I wanted to see who I would meet along the road. So many were kind,” Uri’s voice grew weak, “and yet there was so much desperation, and violence. I…”

Uri sank back into sofa, letting out a long, deep breath as his eyes drifted close. His hair tickled Kenny’s arm. Kenny itched to move it from resting along the back of the sofa, but he liked Uri’s touch.

_Like it too much_ , he scolded himself.

Who knew a pair of shoulders could be so interesting? Uri’s were. They were narrow, much like the rest of his frame, but they were taut like a fiddle string. Kenny knew Uri draped in long, sleek hair and floor-kissing robes. Who would know that Uri had a small waist, small hips, but thighs that looked almost too big for the rest of him? Suppose all that standing and preaching had to be good for something. His white shirt was buttoned to just beneath his collar bone, where Kenny could see a fine layer of hair, almost glowing white in the lamplight. His shirt was tucked in his dress pants, freshly pressed – Kenny could tell. His belt probably costed more than every stitch on Kenny – hell, even the buckle made Kenny’s fingers itch to steal it – just to see what he could get for it. It wouldn’t be the first time his eyes wandered to Uri’s belt buckle, and his fingers flexed and –

_No. Not down that road. Not tonight._

Though the robes made sense, in a way. Maybe Uri wanted to hide himself away from the world. Maybe he and Kenny weren’t all that different in that aspect. Isn’t that what Kenny did in the Underground – stride through the streets in genuine leather and spit-shined shoes? It was part of the role he had given himself. If the world wasn’t going to write him a story, fuck it. He would write it himself and act it out until it was indistinguishable from reality.

“You waiting for me to say you’re wrong?”

Uri scoffed. “No.”

“Hm.”

“I’m glad to know the world, though. At least a bit more. There are places that need our resources, and now I know where to send them directly.”

Kenny smirked. “So they don’t mistakenly drop into an officer’s pockets?”

“They love to help _– themselves_ , that is.” Uri’s eyes narrowed. “Violence knows so many forms. I know it, too. I use it to keep peace…I don’t want to. I don’t…”

Uri was drifting again. There was nothing Kenny could say. Violence was everywhere. The world was shit. For some reason, Uri cared. He tried. Kenny didn’t understand it, but sometimes he wished he could.

Though he didn’t have the patience to sit through Uri’s self-deprecation. Kenny snapped his fingers in front of Uri’s nose, startling him out of his fog.

“Y’know, that’s how people get picked off,” Kenny began. “You spend all your time thinking of a better world, someone’ll be glad to take you out of this one.”

Uri leaned towards him. “Would you let them?”

“Tsk. What kind of question is that?” Kenny reached down and slid a knife from his boot, letting it dance through his fingers before gripping the hilt tight. “You doubting my skill?”

Uri’s smile was small, but warm. “No, not at all.”

“Look at the monster, smiling all content. You go for one walk around the block and you act like you know everything.”

“I don’t.” Uri’s smile grew. “I don’t know you.”

Kenny chose to focus on his knife, not on Uri’s words. “You knew enough that day.” It was all they ever called it: when Kenny was gripped in a titan’s fist and his knife was wedged into Uri’s arm. “You spilled out my whole story easily enough.”

“The story of the Ackermans, of the pain my family caused,” Uri explained. His tone shifted. “Not you.”

Kenny spared a glance towards the man beneath his arm. Uri was looking away, arms crossed, foot dangling over his knee. His ashy hair glowed almost yellow in the firelight. Then Kenny saw it: the blooming red of Uri’s ears. And Kenny knew why Uri hid his face.

Kenny’s stomach knotted. Kenny the Ripper brought tears to people’s eyes. He made skin drain colour, and flesh drain blood. Even in the lightest moments in a pub late at night, he could make eyes grow heavy-lidded and seductive. But who would ever blush for Kenny Ackerman? Why was it so goddamn unnerving?

Kenny flashed words as often as his blade, but he didn’t need words here. He grabbed Uri’s bicep, the cloth warm and crisp. Uri turned, mouth ready to ask a question. Kenny was quicker.

“Did you know I was coming by tonight?”

Uri’s voice was calm, but frustratingly quiet. “I hoped you would.”

Kenny didn’t let go. “Why?”

“I like when you’re here.” _Fuck._ Uri knew how to cut him deep and quick.

A part of him thought he shouldn’t ask, but if Kenny didn’t, Uri never would. “How do you want to know me?”

Uri’s eyes flickered to the door behind them. “It’s late, Kenny.”

“I know what the damn time is, Uri. Cut the crap. None of this self-sacrificial shit you love to fall back on when you don’t think you should take what you want. _How?”_

And Uri’s hand found the back of Kenny’s neck. He smashed his lips against Kenny’s, a bit too fast, their teeth cutting into their lips, but Uri only pulled back enough to realign their mouths. Kenny felt the breath leave him. Somehow his hands had found their way under Uri’s shirt and up his back, sliding across the knots of his spine. Kenny fell back, letting Uri’s weight settle across his chest and stomach. Kenny slid his tongue across Uri’s lips. Just as Uri’s mouth parted and his tongue met Kenny’s, he suddenly sat up.

“Hey, what are ya – “ Kenny sputtered. Then he saw where Uri was heading: the door. He slid the latch over and back, double-checking the lock, and then moved to the window behind his desk. Kenny watched, clothes ruffled and lips red, as Uri hurriedly tried to restore some privacy.

“Well, well, you’ve got a system down. You’ve done this before with your help?” quipped Kenny. Uri, who was pulling the curtains closed, suddenly went still.

“No,” Uri answered, moving towards the back of the sofa. His eyebrows furrowed.

“You can’t make jokes, now you can’t take them,” Kenny said, sitting up.

Uri crossed his arms. “Sorry. It just made me think of Rod and his…”

“Tch.” Kenny’s nose scrunched in disgust. “Don’t compare yourself to that prick. He’s got his own problems. If his wife turns her back on it, let him stick it where he likes.”

“I just don’t think it’s how someone should treat a partner.” Uri’s arms loosened, and his hands found purchase on the sofa’s wooden frame. “And what servant can say ‘no’ to a man in a powerful position, like him? It makes me…”

Uri never said a harsh word about Rod, though Kenny always did. The fact that he was this openly angry and disappointed – that said more than Kenny ever could.

“Aren’t ya the king? Tell him to stuff it back into his pants.”

Uri scoffed, bending down to look in Kenny’s eyes. “You should be a tactician.”

“Missed my calling,” Kenny said. His eyes fell to Uri’s mouth. “Who knew the Ackermans had so much tact?”

It was a pathetic joke, but it made Uri chuckle all the same. Then Uri was kissing him. It must’ve been worth something.

As Uri deepened the kiss, Kenny used his long arms to lift Uri back over the sofa and on top of him. He didn’t know how long they remained like this, kissing, biting, touching. Uri had lost his shirt and Kenny’s trousers were loosened. Uri began to kiss a trail down Kenny’s chest, tantalizingly slow, until his lips reached just below Kenny’s belly button. Then his lips trailed upwards, settling on a spot below Kenny’s ear that made him squirm.

“ _Fucker_ ”, Kenny spat. Of course Uri would figure out his weak spots so soon. Uri only hummed against his skin, sending a chill down Kenny’s back. Then Kenny felt something hard poke against his stomach. Uri must have noticed his attention drifting because his mouth stilled. Uri straightened, lifting his crotch from Kenny. He stared down, unsure.

Kenny just stared back. “Is it titan-sized?” he asked.

Uri gave him a swat. “You’re horribly crude.”

“It’s a good question!” Kenny shot back. “How wrecked am I gonna get tonight?”

“Have you had that kind of sex before?”

Leave it to Uri to complain about crudeness but be straight-faced asking a question like that. “What, you mean up the ass? Nah. You?”

“No. I only had some experience when I was younger, before my father passed and I took on his responsibilities.”

“Huh. Guess we’ll have to get creative, eh?”

Kenny shoved Uri to the other end of the sofa. In one swift movement, he stuck his knife between the cushions so it was within reach. Ignoring Uri’s questions, Kenny lowered his knees to the floor, settling himself before Uri. Uri let a rush of air escape between his teeth as Kenny unbuttoned his pants and freed Uri’s erection.

“Kenny.” It wasn’t a question or a command. It was an out, if Kenny wanted it. He didn’t.

“You’ve kneeled for me before,” Kenny told him, his voice gut-deep, and then he opened his mouth and slid Uri’s cock down his tongue. Uri choked, his spine curving off the sofa. Kenny sank lower, letting the head poke against his cheek. He could feel Uri go rigid beneath him. His breath rushed through his nose. Uri had always been like this – strong and stable and reserved until it all overwhelmed him, like the walls would crumble as soon as he did.

Let him crumble, Kenny thought. Let him fucking topple.

He took Uri in his mouth again, down to the base. Uri’s hand clenched the cushions, his groans muffled. Kenny eased back to the tip, swirling his tongue around the pulsing member. He wasn’t good at this. He couldn’t keep his teeth back. Spit leaked from his lips. He didn’t know where to put his hands and he was sure that Uri was going to knee him in the face if he didn’t fucking stop trying to hold himself down.

He dared a glance upwards. Uri’s arm was braced over his eyes and his bottom lip looked ready to bleed from his teeth biting down. Kenny pulled off with a disgustingly wet pop.

“Stop covering your face,” Kenny barked, batting away Uri’s arm. He regretted it though, when he saw Uri’s hazy stare, burning like he had a fever. Uri looked ready to break.

“I’m,” Uri said, rough, “very close, Kenny, _alright_?”

Kenny stared at him from below, and as Uri’s grimace grew deeper, so did Kenny’s snickering.

“You think I care about that?” Kenny said, flailing his arms to encompass the space around them. Spit was starting to dry on his chin. “I just had your dick in my mouth.”

Uri’s hand flew up to his face, but before Kenny would say anything, his lips cut into a grin. His hand drifted down, and Uri’s grey-green eyes met Kenny’s. They were red-rimmed and fevered, the heat in them making Kenny harden in his trousers.

“I’ll never know anyone like you, Kenny.”

That meant more to Kenny than he would ever admit. He covered with, “My knees are starting to get sore down here, _your highness_.”

Uri hesitated. He licked his lips. “Can I touch your hair?”

Kenny’s cock twitched. “Don’t choke me on your dick. I don’t know what I’m doin’.”

“I wouldn’t.”

There was something else, Kenny could tell. The waiting was painful. His hard-on was tight against his zipper. “And?”

“I liked your teeth.”

_Of course ya would, you freak. You perverted monster._ The sarcastic bites rose on his tongue, but Kenny never said anything. Not now. He took Uri in his mouth again, picking up one of Uri’s hands and forcing it against his hair. He let his teeth graze when he paused to breathe, just to drive more pleasured noises out of him. As he bobbed his head, feeling Uri’s leg muscles flew beneath his fingers, Uri’s nails began to scratch his scalp. He never pulled or held his head, but his fingers moved through Kenny’s long strands, trailing down to his neck. Kenny could feel everything. He hurriedly shoved his hand down his own pants, jerking himself off to his mouth’s movements.

“Kenny – “ Uri whined. He could start to taste him on his tongue. Kenny pulled off, standing up enough to jerk Uri to orgasm with his hand. Uri came with a whimper, coating Kenny’s hand and cock with his semen. When Uri’s quivering began to quiet, Kenny removed his hand and lowered himself down to kiss Uri’s cracked lips. It was tender, and foolish, and he was giving away all of himself when he promised long ago he never would. But Uri was worth it, worth it all.

With his lips still on Uri’s, Kenny gripped himself, desperate for his own release.

“No,” ushered Uri, breathless, “wait.” And like an idiot, Kenny did. His cock ached as he removed his hand to steady himself on the sofa. He watched Uri lay his back against the armrest and spread his legs. With a strength a man his size should not have, he pulled Kenny forward, and when he was near enough, he hooked his legs over Kenny’s shoulder so the tip of Kenny’s cock hit his thighs.

Uri’s blood-pink face looked up at him, and in a wet voice he pleaded, “ _Please._ ”

It was all Kenny needed. He snapped his hips, thrusting between Uri’s thighs. He let out a strangled groan when Uri tightened his grip, squeezing his dick as he pulled out. He wasn’t going to last long like this. He needed release. He needed –

Kenny gripped Uri’s legs and suddenly leaned forward, folding Uri nearly in half. He wanted Uri as close as he could have him. And at this angle his balls met Uri’s, and the sensation made his head dizzy. Uri’s gasps sounded too close and too far away. His pacing became erratic. Uri’s thighs were slick and tight and then he squeezed and squeezed. Kenny gave another thrust, another, and then Uri grabbed his head and pulled him down, and Kenny came, his moan swallowed by Uri’s mouth. He was shivering. He felt weak. Absently, his hand drifted down to the sofa cushion. His knife was still nearby. Good.

Uri let his legs fall apart, and immediately Kenny dropped between them. Their stomachs were sticky with cum, and it disgusted Kenny more than blood ever would, but he could hear Uri’s heart thump beneath his ear. Kenny decided he could put up with anything to listen to that sound. Uri’s fingers combed down his scalp and through his hair. Kenny couldn’t remember the last time someone did that. His grandfather, maybe.

The room was darker. The fire was burning down again.

“Kenny?” Uri whispered. When Kenny lifted his head up, Uri’s eyes were soft. “You’re crying.”

“What?” Kenny felt his cheeks, and they were wet. He picked up Uri’s shirt from the floor and gave his cheeks a quick wipe. “You practically rubbed my dick raw there, ya know,” he said. “Bring any man to tears, that.”

Uri broke into laughter.

“Huh? You laughing at me?”

“I,” and Uri’s laughter deepened, “remembered when we first met. That day. Made you cry there, too.”

“Oi – “

“Imagine if Rod knew how I could bring you to tears, now.”

“Shaddup!” Kenny yelled, pinning the madly grinning Uri beneath him even more. “I don’t want to think about your brother any day, especially when my dick’s still out.”

Uri just shook with laughter. “Kenny!”

Kenny grabbed his lip between his teeth, his smile achingly wide. Uri let the bite melt into a kiss, and as their eyes opened, they just watched one another. Their breathing slowly evened out as the room grew quiet with the embers. Kenny let his forehead drop to Uri’s chest. A lazy finger drew circles on Kenny’s back, connecting his scars like stars on a map. It was nice.

For some reason, Kenny heard himself ask, “So, is this gonna be what we are, now?”

Uri’s sudden silence was unnerving. It was starting to drag. Just as Kenny was about to dismiss his question, Uri answered, “I don’t care.”

Kenny propped himself on his elbows. He met Uri’s stare, young and bright and old and sad.

“I don’t care,” repeated Uri. “I just hope you’ll stay.”

Uri always made saying such things look so easy. Maybe Kenny was broken. Between being hunted, losing his sister, abandoning his nephew – who still fought to survive when it would have been so easy to just let death win – perhaps he was too much of a piece of shit to know this. It was selfish to even think he deserved this kind of affection.

But Uri’s hands cupped his cheeks, drawing him down until Kenny’s face was buried in his neck and Uri’s thin arms held him tenderly. And maybe because he was broken, and selfish, and a bloodied, beaten bastard, Kenny let himself have this. Even just for tonight. Maybe tonight would be enough.


End file.
